03-01-2013, 11:25 PM
Michael,
The name "Roxolani" is, I believe, a Latinized form. The Iranian base is "Rohks" (shining or bright) + "alani." Earlier recorded, we have Alexander the Great's wife's name: Rohkshan (Roxanne). The explanation given in the Ospray book, The Sarmatians, was incorrect by inferring the meaning was "western." So, really all it means is Shining Alans, and I think all subsequent Russian names borrow from the Iranian original.
The Chinese references we have for the Kang-ju are not duplicated in western historical literature (Herodotus, Ammianus, etc.), so we are left with an incomplete picture. The western blanket term "Massagetae" seems to be an equivalent for the following tribes, east to west, to northwest: Wusun (in the Ili Vallay), Yu-chi (in Ferghana), Kung-ju (in the Bactrian-Margiana complex), and Yen-ts-ai (northwest around the Caspian).
All tribes, even including some of the Yu-chi (I think the Lesser Yu-chi) formed an expanding confederation that western writers recorded as the "Alans," ("formerly the Massagetae" from Ammianus Marcellinus) ("They were the Massagetae" from Casius Dio). The lead groups in the western migration, here listed as the most western first, were-- the Roxolani, Sirakis, Aorsi, and Taifali... then a major group recorded as "Alans."
We know the tribal structures shifted: the Roxolani joined the Iazyges on the Hungarian Plain and the result became known as simply "Sarmatians." The Sirakis were absorbed by the Aorsi. The Aorsi became the Alanorsi, and finally just a part of the Alans. The Taifali became the Tyrfingi Goth's cavalry until 376, basically a Gothic subtribe until they went on their own again for a short period of 2 years before being defeated by the Romans and moved enmass to Italy and France. The major group, which became Pannonian Alans, converted to Arianism and fell in with the Vandals, moved into Spain and then Africa. From the Pannonian population, Gratian recruited 40,000. The last of the migration settled in the Cacausus and became the Osseti. Adittionally, another 30,000 Alans moved east to China and settled on the mainland opposite Formosa.
We know what they looked like, based on photographs of Ossetic descendents. :-)
[attachment=6571]Ramonov_vano_ossetin_northern_caucasia_dress_18_century.jpg[/attachment]
Vano Ramenov, Osseti chieftain
[attachment=6572]draft_lens2744012module152873840photo_1314834292ossetian.jpg[/attachment]
Young Osseti woman
The name "Roxolani" is, I believe, a Latinized form. The Iranian base is "Rohks" (shining or bright) + "alani." Earlier recorded, we have Alexander the Great's wife's name: Rohkshan (Roxanne). The explanation given in the Ospray book, The Sarmatians, was incorrect by inferring the meaning was "western." So, really all it means is Shining Alans, and I think all subsequent Russian names borrow from the Iranian original.
The Chinese references we have for the Kang-ju are not duplicated in western historical literature (Herodotus, Ammianus, etc.), so we are left with an incomplete picture. The western blanket term "Massagetae" seems to be an equivalent for the following tribes, east to west, to northwest: Wusun (in the Ili Vallay), Yu-chi (in Ferghana), Kung-ju (in the Bactrian-Margiana complex), and Yen-ts-ai (northwest around the Caspian).
All tribes, even including some of the Yu-chi (I think the Lesser Yu-chi) formed an expanding confederation that western writers recorded as the "Alans," ("formerly the Massagetae" from Ammianus Marcellinus) ("They were the Massagetae" from Casius Dio). The lead groups in the western migration, here listed as the most western first, were-- the Roxolani, Sirakis, Aorsi, and Taifali... then a major group recorded as "Alans."
We know the tribal structures shifted: the Roxolani joined the Iazyges on the Hungarian Plain and the result became known as simply "Sarmatians." The Sirakis were absorbed by the Aorsi. The Aorsi became the Alanorsi, and finally just a part of the Alans. The Taifali became the Tyrfingi Goth's cavalry until 376, basically a Gothic subtribe until they went on their own again for a short period of 2 years before being defeated by the Romans and moved enmass to Italy and France. The major group, which became Pannonian Alans, converted to Arianism and fell in with the Vandals, moved into Spain and then Africa. From the Pannonian population, Gratian recruited 40,000. The last of the migration settled in the Cacausus and became the Osseti. Adittionally, another 30,000 Alans moved east to China and settled on the mainland opposite Formosa.
We know what they looked like, based on photographs of Ossetic descendents. :-)
[attachment=6571]Ramonov_vano_ossetin_northern_caucasia_dress_18_century.jpg[/attachment]
Vano Ramenov, Osseti chieftain
[attachment=6572]draft_lens2744012module152873840photo_1314834292ossetian.jpg[/attachment]
Young Osseti woman
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
